Optical Gain in Carbon Nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates room temperature optical gain in semiconducting carbon nanotubes at 1.3 micrometers, marking progress toward nanotube-based laser sources for integrated photonics.

Contribution

First experimental demonstration of intrinsic optical gain in s-SWNTs at room temperature in the near-infrared range.

Findings

Optical gain as high as 190 cm-1 achieved at 1.3 μm

Room temperature operation of nanotube-based gain medium

Potential for developing nanotube lasers for integrated circuits

Abstract

Semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes (s-SWNTs) have proved to be promising material for nanophotonics and optoelectronics. Due to the possibility of tuning their direct band gap and controlling excitonic recombinations in the near-infrared wavelength range, s-SWNT can be used as efficient light emitters. We report the first experimental demonstration of room temperature intrinsic optical gain as high as 190 cm-1 at a wavelength of 1.3 {\mu}m in a thin film doped with s-SWNT. These results constitute a significant milestone toward the development of laser sources based on carbon nanotubes for future high performance integrated circuits.